Blair Witch
0
Blair Witch Project now on iTunes
The Blair Witch Project is now available for download from the iTunes Store. I doubt anyone will get motion sickness from watching it on their 2.5" video iPod screen, so I recommend viewing it on a bus, train, or plane to get the full effect.
Link to The Blair Witch Project at the iTunes Store.1
We'd like to thank the YouTube community and Fair Use laws everywhere!
We have been awarded one of the highest honors the YouTube community can bestow on a feature film -- A Short Edition! In the footsteps of Scarface - The Short Version, and The Big Lebowski - F**king Short Version, here is The Blair Witch Project - The Short Version:1
We'd like to thank the YouTube community and Fair Use laws everywhere!
We have been awarded one of the highest honors the YouTube community can bestow on a feature film -- A Short Edition! In the footsteps of Scarface - The Short Version, and The Big Lebowski - F**king Short Version, here is The Blair Witch Project - The Short Version:0
The November issue of Fast Company has a big feature online and in the print edition on Campfire, the new marketing company in which Gregg and I are partners. It includes stuff about the Blair Witch campaign, some of which has never before been covered in the mainstream media, so it's a worthwhile read for BWP fans, as well as anyone who has been following our work in that area.
Most of you will wonder where the hell Ed and Dan are in the story, and it's a valid question. The answer is, we talked at length about all of our involvement, but the focus of the story was on Campfire, so Ed and Dan will unfortunately have to wipe their tears away with that Time Magazine cover. Sorry guys.
Orlando residents might recognize some of the locations in the accompanying slideshow, including Wonder Works (above), Stardust, and Wally's! Everyone else can just marvel at the wonder that is Gregg Hale's beard.
Fast Company goes Down The Rabbit Hole
The November issue of Fast Company has a big feature online and in the print edition on Campfire, the new marketing company in which Gregg and I are partners. It includes stuff about the Blair Witch campaign, some of which has never before been covered in the mainstream media, so it's a worthwhile read for BWP fans, as well as anyone who has been following our work in that area.
Most of you will wonder where the hell Ed and Dan are in the story, and it's a valid question. The answer is, we talked at length about all of our involvement, but the focus of the story was on Campfire, so Ed and Dan will unfortunately have to wipe their tears away with that Time Magazine cover. Sorry guys.
Orlando residents might recognize some of the locations in the accompanying slideshow, including Wonder Works (above), Stardust, and Wally's! Everyone else can just marvel at the wonder that is Gregg Hale's beard.0
Now that we know who is behind Lonelygirl15, it's time to respond to all the reporters and media comparing Lonelygirl15 to The Blair Witch Project.
It's an easy comparison to make, considering the media (and advertising industry) at large have never really understood what TBWP campaign was really about, instead chalking it up to a simple "is it real/is it fake" debate. I mean, here's an industry publication that actually claims we generated attention through "teaser clips." In 1999 we were all on dial up, and hardly anyone could figure out how to get video to play online, but hey, it sounds good and makes the comparison more relevant to the story, right?
But one of many critical differences between Lonelygirl15 and TBWP is that the meta-mystery of TBWP, the "is it real or fake" question, was simply one layer of the story. An easy one to debunk, no less. Once you found out it wasn't real, there was a central mystery of the story -- "What happened to Heather, Mike, and Josh? Was it supernatural? Was it criminal? What does the found footage reveal?" When people walked out of the theater, these are the questions that fueled the debate, and the meta-questions mattered not.
Lonelygirl15, on the other hand, has lost all its mystery with the creators' unmasking, and there's nothing left in the story to grab onto and discuss. They let the "is it real" question dominate the dialog rather than the narrative they were spinning. I admire their resourcefulness and hope they can pull it together and reclaim the momentum they lost, but they are going to have to do it with good old fashioned storytelling, this time.
The difference between Lonelygirl15 and The Blair Witch Project
For all the stories written on The Blair Witch Project, and the marketing campaign in particular, it's amazing how much misinformation is really out there. I've decided it's time to debunk all of these false assumptions and claims, but using projects happening now. When the media starts comparing Blair Witch's marketing campaign to something, as they did with Snakes on a Plane, I'll use that as an opportunity to get underneath the claims and talk about what was really going on. Well, today we have a big one -- Lonelygirl15.
Now that we know who is behind Lonelygirl15, it's time to respond to all the reporters and media comparing Lonelygirl15 to The Blair Witch Project.
It's an easy comparison to make, considering the media (and advertising industry) at large have never really understood what TBWP campaign was really about, instead chalking it up to a simple "is it real/is it fake" debate. I mean, here's an industry publication that actually claims we generated attention through "teaser clips." In 1999 we were all on dial up, and hardly anyone could figure out how to get video to play online, but hey, it sounds good and makes the comparison more relevant to the story, right?
But one of many critical differences between Lonelygirl15 and TBWP is that the meta-mystery of TBWP, the "is it real or fake" question, was simply one layer of the story. An easy one to debunk, no less. Once you found out it wasn't real, there was a central mystery of the story -- "What happened to Heather, Mike, and Josh? Was it supernatural? Was it criminal? What does the found footage reveal?" When people walked out of the theater, these are the questions that fueled the debate, and the meta-questions mattered not.
Lonelygirl15, on the other hand, has lost all its mystery with the creators' unmasking, and there's nothing left in the story to grab onto and discuss. They let the "is it real" question dominate the dialog rather than the narrative they were spinning. I admire their resourcefulness and hope they can pull it together and reclaim the momentum they lost, but they are going to have to do it with good old fashioned storytelling, this time.